Beneath My Skin
by IZZY-CHAN13
Summary: Danny has enough to worry him, but a day in the lab repeats itself and leads to oddities and consequences... Not the good kind; he soon wishes to seek the help of his friends and even rivals, but the voice in his head won't let him do either.
1. Typical Summer's Day

"This is perfect weather!" The Goth chick stretched out her arms up to the sky, dotted with an array of tiny clouds. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, kites blew around in reds, blues and greens.

"Sure it is, but where's the barbeque??" A black boy adjusted his glasses during a well-concentrated game of Tetris, paying no attention to the atmosphere, "Hey Dan, when are you gonna get down?" The kid never took his eyes off the screen.

A group of sugar crazed kids sprinted past the teens playing tag. A fat kid that had been it for a long time had to stop to catch his breath. The female rolled her eyes when he finally tried to catch up with the others down the hill. The boy up in the tree merely looked down at the grade-schooler and broke into a sympathetic smile.

_I remember my days…_

A breeze from the north caressed his face, causing his eyelids to close upon themselves when a bit of dust fell in one blue pool—"Ouch—!" A hand rubbed at it feverishly.

Sam broke into a laugh, "Okay; that's enough Fenton, you had your fun!" Danny ran a hand through his black hair before following orders, being careful not to topple the avid gamer.

"It's getting late anyway."

The once plain blue sky converted into a gradient of purple, indigo, orange and gold. One by one the kites above were disappearing. The Game Boy was switched off, and Tucker let out something between a groan and a sigh, "Aww, guess I can't eat 'til I get home…"

"Pizza at my place?"

"All right! We could hang out at the den and watch the Star Wars Trilogy or something! I sense that the Force was a little weak today—"

He got up and tapped a tranced Danny on the shoulder, "Hello, Earth to Fenton! We're going to Sam's place tonight, did ya hear?"

Reality hit like a pebble. "Oh! Right Tuck; Sam."

The girl made a bit of a doubting gesture before stepping in front of the distracted 14-year-old, "You've barely spoken the entire day; you ok?" Blue eyes looked up at violet; with little intensity; a distraught face. A corner of his lip went upward, "Yeah, of course I am, let's go now before it gets dark—" A sudden pat on the back,

"Isn't that usually when your graveyard shift begins?" A smirk; Fenton turned 'round and forced a smile. Without saying another word, he sped walked toward the town without waiting for the other two, "I'll meet you at Sam's!"

Manson and Foley glanced at each other and raised brows;

"Um, I know that he's half phantom and all, but that was weird."

The other merely pursed her lips after folding her arms, as if the temperature dropped in a split second—"Let's go."

_I remember those days… When I was normal…_

_And now, you're even better than before._

"Danny— Danny?"

The cold wood felt like a haven against the boy's pale cheek, crouching down at the door of his own house.


	2. Encounter

The hallways clamored with the hustle and bustle of sweaty teenagers, even some fresh from gym class. Far off in the linoleum distance a bespectacled freckle-faced kid was shoved into a narrow locker. The fluorescent lighting hurt Sam's head again,

"Man I can't believe that we actually had to go through the torture of that poor creature! Poor helpless frog—

"Oh Sam, come on—it's already dead, no harm done. You nearly throwing up in the middle of the lab was unnecessary—Piping up, "It was completely necessary! And I did throw up after getting out of the class—excusing myself from that infernal class."

"It was _just_ a frog!" Locker doors slammed, people bickered away of dances, dates and dolts. One in particular was heading their way—bags formed under his eyes,

"Hey guys!" To a quizzical look from the other two—"What's up?"

Sam, the first to pry open her pursed mouth, "Where have you been, Danny? We lost sight of you after you left the park—

Cut off "Yeah what happened to ya?"

Danny brushed off the anxiety with a laugh—"oh nothing—on my way there I realized that I had tons of homework to do last minute."

The question played on, "then why didn't you call us? My house?"

"Too busy." The simple reply. The paled face, messed black hair and slightly sagging features had to come to proof of something he claimed.

Tucker attempted to look past the façade just as a voice from the monotony of school brethren stood out amongst the rest—

"Hey, Fenton! What's up with the goofy hair?"

School jock. School bully. None other than the infamous blonde football player—

"Dash, what do you want?" The laid back expression was suddenly contorted into irritation onto the popular kid and his cohorts—

"Oh, nothing—What happened to you? Couldn't get sleep didn't you? What the heck were you scared of last night—failing at life?"

The odd goth and black couple only took note of Danny's teeth grinding against each other; fist raised with that all-too-familiar ectoplasmic glow.

_Are you really going to let him get away with that?_

The jock laughed obnoxiously and walked off in another direction—Overheard were the words, "Fenton's already failed in good looks—wagh!" A nearby metal door grabbed and swallowed Dash whole under lock and key—

"Get me out of here!"

The glow disappeared, and the boy let out a sigh of satisfaction—

"That's better!" A smirk. The violet iris leered at him—"Well that's not very nice of you at all—are you sure you're okay today?"

"Oh Sam what are you talking about? He always deserves that!" The buddy slapped his ghost pal on the back; the smirk directed in the tech geek's view—

"I dunno. Every time he decides to try to run the risk of getting himself into trouble, it usually means he's up to something—

"Ha ha! Don't worry, Sam; I'm fine!—" Face grave as a known relative whisked over to him,

"You feeling any better, Daniel?" Turquoise orbs pleaded for an answer.

"Jazz, why don't you find some other little brother to

_bug the shit out of_

-annoy?"

His overly concerned sister gasped, "But Danny, what about last night?"

The boy's friends inched in closer to find out what was behind the 14-year-old's prior actions. Fenton suddenly flinched and threw a wicked glare into Jasmine's comfort zone, who felt the need to back off. The light blue converted to a bright green. And from what she could see, there was a speck of red lingering right around his pupils.

She already knew about his so-called secret for quite some time now, but this reaction was not what she wanted to get from her dear brother.

"Jazz!"

"What Daniel?" taking her hands up as if blocking an attack.

_Why don't you just leave us alone and_

"Get your own life!"

Everyone within hearing range froze at the kid's scathing remark, stared at him in his disheveled state for a bit before leading their gazes onto his older sibling. Sam and Tucker just stood there, jawdrop dead.

"I… I just wanted to help." Jazz sulked off between the walls of the onlookers, who whispered and made their ways to their classrooms as the bell rang for next period.

_You know too much._

Danny didn't even seem sorry for what he did. As a matter of fact, after his sister was out of sight, he turned 'round and continued on his merry way, leaving his friends behind again. His lips came together in a whistle tune as he reached the locker where Dash was still waiting—

"H-hey! Who's there? Get me out, please? Anyone."

The hand went transparent and yanked at the jock's collar into the solid door, leaving him to doze off in the metal compartment underneath the yellow stars.

"I can't believe him!"

"Nope, neither can I, Sam Manson."

The expression that stuck on the girl's face was more than worry, and this was beginning to make the funny one uneasy.

* * *

_That was refreshing. Was it not?_

Danny groaned for the umpteenth time as he made his way home again. He was sure the neighbors would notice, so from then on he put up with the randomized hisses and whispers and teasing until he was right at the foot of the steps to his home right as the sun was setting. Just as the knob was about to be turned, there was a sudden crash and blue vapor flew out of the boy's mouth.

"Oh, no." to himself before,

"_I'm Going Ghost!_"

The silver rings ripped out of the torso and expanded over the halves of the white n' red shirt and loose jeans to reveal the iconic tight-fitting black and white suit complete with boots and the shock of white hair giving way to the electric orbs of his widened sockets.

The nearby population panicked, screamed and yelled as deformed creatures of the haunting swooped down upon them, doing the typical damage of overturned cars and exploding fire hydrants. The public swarmed all one way as the phantom jetted against the wave to track and bring down the enemy.

Gargoyles smashed into the nearby bay windows and loaded off with every cent of jewelry they could carry. Gloating their winnings, they took little notice of a strong fist ready to greet them. They flew backward in their goo and eventually got themselves up to a balance again,

"Don't you know it's bad to steal?" Hovering over them, "Shame on you!" From behind a skeleton pawn on his winged mule struck a hard blow over the ghost boy's head—

Bulleting down to the asphalt, he regained quick consciousness before the skull met the ground—

"Ouch! Hey watch it!" Blasting out the specter debris from his hands at his attacker and all around him before coming to with kicks, punches and other tricks to bring the ghost army down. When all was looking good he swiped out the Fenton Thermos and sucked them all up. They swirled and screamed collectively like beaten dogs as they met their fate, locked up in the Ghost Zone once again.

When it looked as if his work was done, a blast of magenta flew past his ear, hitting the street instead—

"_I got you now, Ghost!_"

"Oh man!"

How typical. Ghost Boy saves the day. And Valerie the Crazy Ghost Hunter comes on over to track him down. As usual the boy dodged the blows, yelling out his claims, "I didn't do anything! Why do you always catch me at a bad time? I didn't set that building on fire!"

How did she even get the equipment in the first place?

"Shut up, phantom!" Within dangerous range, "Imma gonna get you if it's the _last thing_ I do!"

As the phrase was uttered, something odd happened. The ghost boy halted in his wake, back to the hunter. It was the perfect time to get a shot at him. Valerie could see his neck lean to one shoulder, then the other. Perfectly relaxed.

This wasn't normal; she already had her finger on the trigger.

_If you say so._

The girl in rose armor stood on her platform, frozen in shock. She didn't know how, but the target she was aiming for at 20 feet suddenly appeared right in her visor with a sinister grin, eyes the color of scarlet. The powerful under punch sent the human flying up and over—the platform failed in catching her in mid-air, for the ghost caught it in time to smash into the brick wall of the burning warehouse.

So now Valerie was falling down, down, down—

"_Wait!_"

* * *

Back to his normal self, Danny continued to feel the girl's wrist for a pulse. It was obvious that she had only experienced a bit of shock, but now he didn't feel so sure about anything.

_Now she's really going to hate me._

_So what? You did well today._

"Shut up!" A motion stirred in his lean arms,

"Wha? … What happened…?" Green eyes blinked forever to get into focus. Once the ebony-haired kid's features came into focus, the black girl gasped and wrenched herself away from his care— "What are you doing?"

"You passed out." Laughing nervously, "I took you to safety—

"_Where is he?_" Valerie growled. It sounded as if she wanted to tear him apart. The boy gulped a little,

"Who do you mean?"

"The _phantom!_ He was right-" she blushed all of a sudden and cleared her throat, "I mean, well."

"Valerie" reassuring her—

"Never mind. Just take me home, whatever a loser boy like you does to impress a girl anyway."

* * *

Bad timing.

Danny didn't bother to have dinner tonight. When his parents asked why he looked so glum (and after Jack offered him a fishing Father/Son trip), he could peek at Jasmine from the corner of his eye, whose own gaze stayed transfixed at the minestrone soup.

He couldn't handle it and decided it was best to turn in early. But he couldn't sleep a wink. Staring up at the bumps of the ceiling for 2 hours straight, the boy figured he was a closet insomniac.

"Ohh-!" Rubbing at his dry eyes, lamenting his frustrations in silence. He was near expecting the next harassment. Soon enough, the dormant puppeteer at the back of his head breathed out.

_Why so angry, Fenton? You did great today. Wonderful, even. It's a shame that Vladimir never showed up for the party…_

He shut his eyes and drowned out the voice with chaotic conversations and samples of distorted music and any other sound he could think of. Thick eyebrows furrowed as he braced himself for higher volume of his own mental distraction—

A high-pitched cry killed off everything he built and made Danny jolt up in his bed and cover his ears tight as if the sound was coming from the outside. The screech blared and pierced into his soul, attacking from within—stronger than before.

Pulsating magnetic waves forced his jaw shut; Danny wanting nothing more than to scream bloody murder. He forced his eyes wide open and saw his hands glowing blue, then green—the hair flopped over his eyes fluxed from white to black to white silver to pitch pearl .

After this happened the spiritual assault would finally cease, as it always had. But now—

_But now?_

Fenton laughed manically… But it wasn't his own.

Something snapped and nearly made him topple over the side of the bed. His muscles worked on their own and transformed along with the body, from the boy in blue pajamas to the ghost child, darting through the walls and the floors, through the metal backing of the Fenton Lab—

_Hey! What are you doing?_ An infamous device spliced the two apart. The human half collapsed face- down on the floor, while the ghost half laughed again,

"You're so entertaining!"

… _What? _"Entertaining?" Free from the strings, Danny's hand clutched at his throbbing temples, "oww.."

"Indeed." The human looked up from the ground to see the phantom greet him, floating upside down, "Hallo there, Daniel."

"Hello, and good bye. Let's get back into the dream catcher like before," getting himself up and dusting off the lint, "all right?"

"No" A crease formed on both their craniums "I don't think I want to"

"Ha, ha. You're joking. I'll need you tomorrow—Come on!" Fenton's outstretched hand caught nothing. The phantom kid was right side up and leering straight at him with cool emerald eyes:

"You're too late."

Like before Danny felt himself abruptly dragged on throughout the house, barely clinging on his specter's shoulder, afraid to fall off. They landed right in his bedroom. The boy was seeing double, quadruple! To not topple over again he shut his eyes from the dizziness and tried to plant his feet to the floor. Still swaying to and fro as a small voice sounded at the back of his head,

"Boo."

Orbs widened in shock as the Phantom took a rough hold on the collar. He pulled in closer and closer—too much for comfort. A wild hand jutted back only to find a wall and nothing to throw into his overly calm countenance. Pupils shrank, and Daniel tried to scream; no sound emitted. The other half inched into personal space, until craniums made contact and icy breath blocked the way for oxygen, unwillingly breathed in by the former.

A small gasp, "What's wrong with you?"

"Don't you mean, what's wrong with yourself?"

A dead cold transformed into a grave temper, "You're not me, Phantom. _Get off._"

A tiny laugh, "Oh why so confident now, whelp? Last time I checked, you were shaking—He slid his hand up the kid's body to prove it. The boy shuddered, not out of pleasure, but out of disgust.

"Calling me 'whelp' like Skulker doesn't give you any advantage over me—stern tone—"tell me who the hell you are!"

The grasp disappeared and the ghost floated back to normal distance, head down with a smirk.

"Ha—Don't you have any idea: I AM YOU. Or, at least, I've become you, over time."

A question flew around, "What do you mean?"

A slow hand brushed through white keratin. "The Great War… Under the rule of that omnipotent Pariah—

"What—_King_ Pariah?—

The grip on the collar turned into a wring around the neck,

"Let me speak, Daniel." Letting the boy collapse on the floor, he struggling to get back up, or at least whatever he could do in pajamas.

"Omnipotent. Insolent. An Idiot. I was a part of the Resistance. Thing is, I was a part his Royal Court, so every operation I took a hold of was conducted in secret, until that battle."

All this time the phantom half had been gazing up at the ceiling; now, the lime-lit eyes peered down at a halfway knelt Danny, who did not utter a syllable.

"Chaos ensued. Riots—the spirits of women and children fled, hoping to be cast off somewhere safe before taken prisoner—I had plans to get rid of the King directly. My informant, the Black Knight; decided to go back to his 'noble roots', and spat out everything—My troops and their hideouts and me—oh, and me. I went into a lot of torture after that. Lost a couple of limbs no doubt—

"Wait—" trying to mull this over in his diminutive human mind, "Since you've lost limbs, then why-?"

"I was reduced to a near pulp of ectoplasm. Lovely visual. Then, exiled into the abyss for eternity…"

The empty expression turned into a glare, then relaxation, slowly becoming an unwelcoming sneer. The ebony hair dripped with sweat as the boy came to realization,

"Until I found you."

A near silence was broken into a series of inaudible whispers. The ghost chuckled and walked predator's circles around the carcass—

"Over time, I've become you. Every time you've 'gone ghost', I picked up on your mannerisms. Your likes, your dislikes. Overall personality, but,

A shriek rang in the room as the dripping hair was suddenly yanked upward, falling back over the kid's damp face just as quick. Loose strands fluttered to the floor.

"I don't think I've picked up much on your character."

Danny's teeth grit—the legs finally pushed him up to face this creature of the unknown, playing a devilish smile.

"Explain— breathing heavily "Explain what happened—back there," pointing at the wall.

The reaction he got was not what he expected—

Phantom threw his head back and laughed so boisterously loud, that Danny was feeling more than relieved—that is, until the back of his skull rammed up against the flat plane. The ghost must have wanted him alive, since there was no sickening crack to be heard—

Hissing, "I want you, little badger."

It was then that the boy in thin pajamas did everything in his power _not_ to throw up in his face.


	3. It's a Date

"W-want _me?_"

"What did I just say, Daniel?" The grip on his shoulders stayed put.

Immediate wave of nausea crashed in the sea of crazed emotions. What was the Phantom's business to try and touch him all over, anyway?

Danny Fenton could not believe that this was his other half—this was truly revolting,

"And I won't have any part of it, Phantom."

The boy struggled to get free, pushing his own weight and trying to jab the other square in the jaw.

As if it were a game the ectoplasmic predator merely dodged the blows and didn't even bother to turn himself transparent. The constant smirk took the child aback for a moment until he noticed he was fighting for something other than his flowered body—

"_Go away_, Phantom! _Get out of here!_" A determined fist finally knocked the ghost over for a split second, enough for the boy to come up around him and whirl another tight fist, which the other caught with ease.

In the next moment Danny could feel his hand being crushed—his knuckles cracking one by one. He winced, shut his eyes and ultimately loosened the strike aimed for his ghost's nose. He then yanked it out of the stronghold and could see the red imprints of his enemy's fingers. The sudden roundhouse kick to the face sent the boy sprawling onto the wooden floor—Blood spurted from his own nostrils.

The legs of the phantom transformed into a snake and gagged Fenton's yells. The ghost chuckled as the boy cursed away, unable to be heard by the other residents of the household. He leaned forward ever so gracefully and stroked the cheek, red with embarrassment, down to his pointed chin…

"You don't want me, it seems."

The gag gave way, "You're _damn right_ I don't—I'm not some fag to play around with!"

The red liquid had already trickled down to his mouth, which the other wiped away with a startling gentleness.

"Don't worry. I'll run you so ragged that one day you'll have no choice but to give into me. Your dark half. I'm positive that your 'heroics' could be put to… better use."

_Better use?_

"What do you mean—better—

Frigid lips of a corpse brushed against his—he convulsed in rage before suddenly feeling faint.

A kiss of death.

"You'll see, Daniel."

The boy sat up with a thin gasp. All he could grasp at were the sheets of his bed—hand flew to his forehead, still damp with sweat. Danny's fingers slid down his hot complexion, than across the bottom of his nose. He sniffed a bit before pressing his finger and thumb together. He couldn't feel any foreign copper. Looking again, in the dim blue light filtering in through the blinds, all he could perceive was his own flesh tone, and nothing more.

Pale blue light. It was early morning. A shrilling beep sounded at the foot of his bed, within his discarded clothes—

He picked up the cell phone by shifting his weight to the far side, stretching out his arm,

"Yello~

"Danny?" crackling of static.

"Oh—Sam! What's up?" He crossed one leg under the other, which kept bent. Her voice sounded worried, hesitant even,

"Nothing much—it's Saturday—How've you been?"

"Since yesterday? Oh, fine, Sam—

Silence on the other end.

"Really, I am—don't be so motherly, it's not like you!"

"What? I'm not motherly!"

Danny put his feet on the floor, "Are too!"

"Danny. I just wanted to know if you wanted to go to the movies today, together."

"Is Tucker gonna be there?"

"Well. I was hoping-" stumbling on a couple words.

"Sure, Sam," grinning to himself—"I pick you up, then?"

_We're just good friends, after all._

"Okay then; see you—there's a horror show flick coming up at 1:00."

"Cool."

It was now 7:30. The boy got up and stretched out his entire body to be rid of the stress and tension that had accumulated throughout this strange vision of the night.

The arm pulled out and over his chest, and gave a tiny crack at the shoulder joint, "Ah, that's better~"

Danny strolled over to the bathroom down the hall and freshened up. He brushed his teeth and wet his face, washing it with soap and cold water. Foam clung to his chin as he leaned in closer to the mirror to check out a zit forming right between the side of his nose and his eye socket. He stretched out the bottom half of his eyelid for a second to capture a stray eyelash—

_Gotcha._

The kid let out a sigh of relief as he rinsed the soap off. His eyes peered up at the silver reflection—

The green eyed freak gave the Fenton boy a devilish wink.

The soap entered his mouth and took forever to get the acidic taste out of his tongue—

It was just a dream—a nightmare—that's all this was—

"_Right?_"

"Danny!"

The boy jumped up about five feet and whirled around to see his daddy, taller than that—

"You up early on a Saturday, sonny boy?" Grinning even with 5-o'-clock shadow, "What's the rush?"

"Oh!" regaining his composure, giving out a tiny grin, "Morning, Dad. Didn't hear you come in!" He peered over his shaking shoulder and saw nothing but himself.

Jack didn't even question his boy's actions and chuckled, "Got a date today, Danny?"

"It's not a date; I'm going to take Sam to the movies, er—" The boy showed a pleading look in his eyes, "Can you take us?"

"Why boy it's only 8:00! When's the show?"

"1:00"

"Then why are you up so early?"

An exasperated sigh, "Couldn't sleep.."

And with that Danny sulked out of the bathroom.

"Ha! About time!" Jack laughed to himself before shutting the door and turning on the fan.

* * *

Fenton stared at the analog clock from the side of the couch for the longest time. The digits shone red, 8:59 AM.

_What to do? What to do?_

"What to do?" The boy twitched as he spoke out his inner voice's musings. Homework was definitely out of the question. Tucker slept on weekends… What to do?

A sudden tap on his shoulder made him even more tense—

"Hey honey! Since you're doing virtually nothing, why don't you help around the house?"

Maddie Fenton had all of the weapons at the ready. The boy groaned upon receiving his mop and Mr. Bucket, "Thanks, dear!" giving him a big kiss on his forehead—

"But Mom-!"

"But nothing!" a gay little cheer before cartwheeling off to the kitchen. Danny sighed,

"Great. Not only do I have to deal with the possibility of being stalked around by my ghost half; I have to deal with this family as well."

He caught a glimpse of Jazz bolting up the stairs out of fear of being discovered—

"Especially her." through grated teeth.

* * *

"This is so _cool!_" a loud whisper between sips of a Cherry Freezy

"Yeah, I guess it is" the raven haired kid cowered in his front row seat at the dismemberment of an actor on the silver screen. The screams took a strong hold on Manson's attention while Fenton shielded his eyes from the fake gore. The audience jolted upward in unison—"_HAAALP!—Rawr! Splsh!_"

The loud munching of popcorn and candy filled the room, anticipating the next turn of events, "I'm so glad you agreed to hang out with me today!"

"Yeah, me—too." She tapped him on the shoulder, signaling that it was the end of the horror scene, "Hey, after this you wanna shoot some zombies at the arcade? I'm sure it'd give you some good target practice!" Danny smirked a bit and nodded his head. The goth was grinning from ear to pierced ear before slurping a bit more of the Freezy.

A quiet rest followed the action, with the remaining three of the cast discussing the origins of said source of evil permeating the city. "_It's within all of us!_"

"_Yeah, and with this stimulant, everything that we harbor within us is released!_"

"_Let's just hope this thing's taking a good, long nap—_

"Not likely."

Fenton blinked and turned his head to see if Sam heard it too; she was too absorbed in the plot to notice his mental question. He looked down, total disbelief in shrugging it off, before he resumed the viewing of the story. But now Danny couldn't even get settled, trying to figure what that voice was…

And apart from that, the air in the crowded theater room suddenly got colder than usual. Rubbing at his bare arms for warmth, his blue orbs looked every which way. Now he was off to rubbing at his eyes—For a moment, everything around him went mute.

And still. The movement in the crowd stopped completely—

"Sam?" Frozen in her seat. Drink floating in midair.

"Well, well, well!"

_Oh no._

A silent screech flowed through his brain, grating at his ears. Something was approaching, emerging from the projector caught up in the film reel booth. A glimmer of lime green shone on the boy's façade, "Good day, Daniel." The spirit didn't bother to form, a mere glowing haze—

_Get out!_

"_Ah!_ Sorry!" The slushed ice spilled a bit over the edge of the cushion and the carpet beneath, "I'm a little clumsy today."

Everything was suddenly back to normal.

"It's okay." Putting the cup back into the holder and touching her hand unwittingly. For a moment, it seemed like there was a tiny squeeze. Both exchanged odd glances and let go, embarrassed.

_Ah, Puppy Love!_

* * *

"You _can't_ be serious!"

"Listen Sam I know it sounds weird—

"I don't think that's any excuse for you to be acting the way you did today—nor for the way you acted towards your sister in the hallway."

The 14 year old caught himself before shouting out an expletive, "This has nothing to do with Jazz! This is about the Dreamcatcher!"

'Daniel' tried to enjoy himself this time, forgetting those initial aftershocks and wanting nothing more than to reconnect with those that made his teenage life worthwhile. But the voices in his mind's eye kept switching on and off, to the point where he was this close to attacking a poor mime on the street, and other pedestrians. He was sure that he saw that freak of dead nature floating around on his back, weaving in and out of buildings. And every time he felt his presence, Danny wished he had a sweater on him.

The girl lounging in her bed couldn't fathom the possibility that her friend would be so doggone stupid as to let _that_ happen to him again. She could still recall the last time—

"It didn't just divide me—It wholly separated us!"

Obviously, either the folks were gone or they were too busy with their happy-go-lucky lives, leaving a boy in this girl's bedroom. Not that it even mattered…

The chick pressed a finger upon her lips, pensive. Danny looked both relieved and anxious at the same time. One, because he finally had _someone_ to tell about this oddity (without giving out too many details of course), and two, because he was afraid that Sam would dismiss this case as another joke.

"Danny, quit your whining and 'go ghost'. Prove to me that he's totally separated from you now."

He blinked; he hadn't tried that out all day, "Uh, um," not having any of his ghost senses tingle, "going ghost?"

Much to his chagrin and much to her amusement, the human took on the role of the halfa in a second. His gloved fingers pulled the strands of hair in front of his blushing face and saw stark white, "My eyes are green, right?" Voice reverberating off the wall.

Sam sat up on the mattress and nodded, "Yep! See? Nothing to be worried about!"

Nothing to be worried about? Last night's events were all too real. And the touch much too sensual to be merely imagined—

Much less with one of the same sex (or sexless, given the state of the ghost involved!)

"It was just a bad dream, that's all! Maybe it had to do with getting angry at the whole world before that night, maybe. You're just getting stressed out!"

"Yeah, ha ha. Maybe…" now reverting back to human state. Something didn't taste right on the tip of his tongue. He jerked a muscle and shook the fright away,

"You're right, Sam. I should probably just apologize to my folks—

Folding her arms, "including Jazz!"

_Yeah_, "Including Jazz."


End file.
